It's Real for Us
by Passionate04
Summary: Seven books once created a new generation. Years later, a mother hands down her treasures to her son. The son looks up at his mother and watches in wonder as tears roll down her cheeks. He questions his mother- "It is just a book, right?" To answer him, his mother replies- " It'll never be just a book. Not for us. This is our entire childhood. It's real for us."


**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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**A/N: Happy reading! For your better understanding, Ma= Mother and the word game is the game where you have to answer the first thing that comes to your mind, preferably in a word. For example, I say sky, you say blue. Get it?  
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31st October, 2012

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"Harry?" I called, shaking my eleven year old son awake. He mumbled something unintelligible and pressed his face further into the pillow. "Okay, if you want to spend your birthday in your bed, then so be it. We're returning the presents we bought for you." I said, stifling a smile.

"Presents?" My son jerked awake, his eyes shining in excitement.

"Happy Birthday, son!" My husband kissed our son on the forehead and brought out the biggest present imaginable.

"Wow!" Harry exclaimed, his eyes wide open. We watched quietly as Harry tore open the gift wrapper and revealed what was the biggest collection of video games I had ever seen. I scowled at my husband. He shrugged his shoulder in response. _Boys. _

"Ma?" My son called, expecting another present from me. "I'm going to give you mine after the party." I smiled to myself.

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After finishing dinner, I pulled my son into the living room along with me. My husband gave me smile and left the room to give us some privacy. He knew how much this moment meant to me.

I sat on the couch and pulled my son on my lap. He rested his head on my shoulder. This was the picture of ease. I closed my eyes and sighed in contentment.

"Ma?"

"Hmm?"

"Where's my present?" I smiled and reached over Harry to grab his present from the small table beside the couch.

"Here" I said, handing him the present wrapped in blue. Taking the present from me, Harry first inspected it closely. Then he proceeded to shake it close to his ear in order to guess what could be in it.

"A book?" He questioned, expectantly. Even though my son looked exactly like his Father, he got his love for books from me. When he was small, I used to read him new stories everyday. He got bored if I repeated the same stories. When he learned to read, I started to take him to public library every weekend. Harry is very perspective and acted mature for his age. He selected his own books and read them aloud to me. This is what we did in our mother-son bonding time. We curled up near the fire with a good book and time just seemed to fly.

"Open it" I urged.

Harry proceeded to tear open the wrappings and read the title of the book out loud- "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"

"We have the same name." Harry stated the obvious.

"Yeah, my father nearly had a heart attack when he heard that I was going to name my firstborn after a fictional character." I chuckled at the memory.

"You named me after him?" Harry pointed at the picture of a black haired boy on the cover of the book.

"Yes" I answered him.

"Why?"

"I think it's a little early for that question." My son looked up at me suspiciously.

"Now, I want you to finish the book within next week so that we can discuss it." We always discussed a book after we finished it. It became like a tradition as time passed. My son always had thousands of questions for me and I tried my best to answer them. Sometimes though, my son astounded me by the level of his understanding. I mean, he is an eleven year old boy after all.

"Okay" Harry mumbled, reading the back of the book.

"Don't read in bed. You'll get an entire day to read it tomorrow."

"Ma!" Harry whined.

"No. Now go to bed. I don't want you to have bags under your eyes tomorrow."

"Okay" He mumbled again and started to make his way out of the living room door.

"Harry?"

"Hmm?" He turned to face me.

"Happy Birthday, sweetheart. I love you."

He smiled. "I love you too, Ma."

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"So, what do you think?" I asked my son.

"I think J.K. Rowling is my new favorite author." I smirked at this.

"Harry is awesome. I don't hate you for naming me after him."

"Thank you" I nodded for him to continue.

"Ma, why couldn't Harry's parents save him from You-know-who? I mean, they were wizards, right? So why couldn't they just swish their wands and kill You-know-who?"

"Call him Lord Voldemort, son. Fear of the name increases fear of the thing itself." I said, quoting Hermione.

"Why couldn't they kill Lord Voldy?" My son repeated impatiently.

"son, you have to take in consideration that Lord Voldemort was the darkest wizard of all times. People even feared calling him by his proper name."

'So you're telling me that James and Lily Potter were scared of Lord Voldy?" My son asked incredulously.

"No, son, they weren't. James and Lily Potter were brave. They died saving their son. They died because they thought they were protected. They died because they trusted the wrong people."

"What do you mean?" I smiled guiltily at him.

"Oh, okay. I get it. Your lips are sealed." My son said.

"Anything else?" I urged.

"Hogwarts is cool. Dumbledore is…"

"…is the character I respect the most." I finished for my son.

"Why?" Harry asked, curiously.

"Albus Dumbledore is the most complicated and yet the simplest character I have ever read about. He is an enigma. Don't worry, kiddo, by the end of the series you'll love his craziness too."

"How many books are there in the series?"

"Seven altogether", I answered him.

"When do I get the next one?"

"Next year" I simply replied.

"WHAT?"

"We had to wait for years to get the next book in the series. I think you can wait till your next birthday for the next book."

"Ma!" Harry whined.

"Be patient and you'll be rewarded." I reminded as Harry pouted.

"I'm disappointed. No questions about Ron and Hermione?" I tried to distract him.

"I like them. And I like Fred, George and Hagrid as well. They're funny."

"Okay, how about we play the one word game?"

"Sure", Harry replied excitedly.

"Okay, Draco?"

"Evil" I chuckled.

"Neville?"

"Dumb" I scowled at my Son.

"Professor McGonagall?"

"Scary" Harry gulped.

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursely?"

"Mean" I snorted at this.

"Dudley?"

"Spoiled"

"Professor Snape?" I looked at my Son, waiting for his answer.

"Extremely rude"

"That's two words" I reminded him.

"You know what I mean."

I glanced down at the book on my lap. "What did you learn from this book, Harry?"

My Son's eyes sparkled in anticipation as he opened his mouth to say-

"By reading this book, I realized how lucky I really am. How lucky I am to get a loving and caring family. How lucky I really am to have someone ask me how my day went when I return from school, how lucky I really am to have someone to cheer me up when I'm upset or how lucky I really am to have someone to share my thoughts with. Blood ties only go so far, and relationships don't necessarily mean that love is felt. Far from it, in fact. The Dursleys fed, clothed, and sheltered Harry, but they didn't love him, and they certainly didn't treat him as though he belonged. Instead, it's the people Harry met at Hogwarts, both students and teachers, who cared for and nurtured him, and who slowly became his new family."

I already had tears in my eyes but my son continued without looking at me.

"I also learned how important friends are in our lives. Without friends, life can be pretty sad. Having someone to side with, to share thoughts with, and to study with – someone who always has our back – is huge. I'm so lucky I have goods friends like Matthew and Oliver. Otherwise, I would have been so jealous of Harry Potter."

I smiled at him, tears running down my cheek.

"I love it, Ma. This is the best book ever! Thank you for giving it to me."

I reached my arms out to indicate that I wanted a hug. Harry leaned down and hugged me.

"Can I have the next book next month?"

"No" I was adamant.

"Please, Ma!" My Son pleaded.

"Be patient, Son" Harry pouted.

"Can I tell you a secret?" I asked, gazing at his pale green eyes. He nodded in response.

I smiled and leaned closer to whisper in his ears- "You're a wizard, Harry!"

My son grinned down at me.

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**A/N: This one if for all the potterheads out there. This one is for us. Hope you liked it and don't forget to leave me your thoughts. K, bye! :)**


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